Next president must deal with information security

The next president and the new Congress will have a lot on their plate, including an obligation to move forward on a strategic plan for IT and information security, according to Jon Oltsik, a senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group, in an article for CNET.com. He says the government is treading water on a number of highly-visible, strategic initiatives like the underfunded Comprehensive National Cyber Security Initiative, which is intended to standardize information security practices and oversee critical information security infrastructure across all federal agencies.

Also on Oltsik's list of problems is the implementation of the 2002 Federal Information Security Management Act, which was supposed to provide guidelines and requirements for federal agencies. Many agencies have apparently failed to comply with the law. Finally, there is the failure of Congress to pass a strong national information privacy act and to standardize identity technologies for federal workers and contractors.

Oltsik said the federal government faces "increasingly dangerous information security threats'' that cannot be ignored. Regardless of who becomes our next president, Oltsik said, he will "judge progress in Washington by the government's ability to pass and fund legislation, meet regulatory compliance mandates, improve information security, and strive for constant improvement.''

For more on challenges for the next president:
- check out this CNET.com article

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